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Cubed Circle Newsletter 224 – Here Comes The ...Our Preposterous Booking Idea

In this week's newsletter we look at what was a crazy week for pro-, with the announcement of a WrestleMania 32 mainevent well beyond the imagination of even the most insane of fantasy bookers and fan-fiction writers, we take a look at Yoshiaki Fujiwara, , and 's attempts at brain damage, versus , NJPW New Beginnings, WWE and RAW in-depth, translations from the WWE press-conference and more!

– Ryan Clingman, Cubed Circle Newsletter Editor

The Pro-Wres Digest for February 21st – February 27th. Ben Carass (@BenCarass)

The deal with Shane McMahon coming back to the WWE was put together about four weeks ago, according to in this week's Observer. The original idea of vs. went out the window when it became clear Cena would not be back from his shoulder surgery in time for WrestleMania and the plan to go with Shane vs. Taker was put into place. Meltzer reported that as of right now the deal with Shane is purely as a short-term on-screen talent, however that could all change depending on the direction they go in after WrestleMania. If Shane plans on sticking around, you would imagine that he would get some kind of role in the business side of the company. Before leaving the WWE in October 2009, Shane had many roles in the company which he started working in when he was just 15 years-old. He sold merchandise, was a referee, a producer, spent some time as a faceless goon on TV who would show up to pull apart wild brawls, became an announcer on Sunday Night Heat in August 1998 and was terrible, then soon transitioned into a real TV character and joined his father's heel stable, The Corporation, at 1998. Shane then started wrestling matches and got over by jumping off the Titantron, taking stupid bumps that nobody else was allowed to take and also by using all the established main eventers' finishing moves. Shane's major role as an executive in WWE was as the President of New Media and Executive Vice President of Global Media and was very progressive when it came to internet marketing and exposure, as well as international deals. But Shane, since he was a young child, obviously believed he would one day take over his father's empire and was always looking for a chance to prove himself to Vince as a competent promoter. He pushed for the WWF to buy the UFC from Semaphore in 1997 and did the same for ECW in late 2000 when the company was on its deathbed. Each time Vince put the kibosh on the deals, seeing both as money- losers. When ECW was reprised in 2006, Shane wanted to run it as a separate, internet exclusive brand, however with no WWE Network back then, Vince sold the show to SyFy and Shane was left out in the cold again. He even tried to buy Pride and Strikeforce when both companies were

1 struggling, however both deals fell through and the UFC came in to purchase the properties. After leaving the WWE, Shane became the CEO of You On Demand in 2010 and tried to get VOD and PPV off the ground in China. It did not go well at all and as of the end of 2014, the company had lost $71,904,000. You On Demand received a $10 million investment from Bruno Wu's Sun Seven Stars Media Group Ltd and Wu replaced Shane as the chairman of You On Demand, however Shane is still Vice Chairman of the Board and remains on the board of directors.

If the boy wonder is staying around after WrestleMania, that throws up the question of what they do for the finish of the Shane/Undertaker match. Shane McMahon pinning the Undertaker just seems like a completely stupid idea. There has been a lot of talk of Shane getting a surrogate to replace him, which I cannot see happening in a million years, and a lot of fantasy booking, including Undertaker lying down for the “good of the company,” which I don't see going down to well in front of the WrestleMania crowd. People have also suggested Shane could turn heel and join the Authority, which is possibly the most egregious of all since the last thing we need is more heel authority figures on TV. Then there is the option of Shane beating Taker somehow and them doing another brand extension, with Shane in charge of RAW and HHH running SmackDown. I really don't know what the best option is here, as they simply do not have the talent depth to split the roster. They could always call up a bunch of guys from NXT, lord knows there are enough talented guys down in Florida who deserve to be on the main roster, however now that they are pushing NXT as a major touring brand it would not do them any favours to deplete the star power of the NXT roster just to patch up a weak brand split. One thing is for sure though; WrestleMania looks a lot more interesting now than it did after the FastLane PPV went off the air last Sunday.

Kota Ibushi announced at a press conference in on 22/2 that he would not be signing new deals with New or DDT and would be starting his own promotion, called, Ibushi Pro Wrestling Kenkyujo (Ibushi Pro Wrestling Research Institute). Ibushi noted that he had recovered from his neck surgery and the doctors had given him the okay to compete. He said continuing to work for two companies made him start to feel like he would be approaching his limits, “both physically and emotionally” and added that, “I do feel like I've done everything I can with my current style.” Ibushi stated that he requested his release from DDT and New Japan in order to, “pursue new possibilities, new adventures in pro wrestling just grow stronger [sic],” and noted, “I personally consider it to be a 'graduation' from these companies.” Ibushi will be working the DDT show at Sumo Hall on 21/3 in a Falls Count Anywhere Weapon Treasure Hunt Match which sees Ibushi & Gota Ihashi vs. Sanshiro Takagi & Jun Kasai vs. KENSO & Michael Nakazawa. DDT

2 founder, Sanshiro Takagi commented on Ibushi's decision and said, “I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit sad, but I have high hopes for Ibushi. I know he can get more eyes watching wrestling and explore new possibilities for it. That's why myself & DDT really want this to be an amicable one, and that's why we accepted his release.” New Japan chairman, Naoki Sugabayashi also made a brief statement on the situation: “We look forward to what new things Ibushi will do. We still welcome Ibushi back to work for NJPW whenever his schedule will allow it.” Ibushi was asked about his thoughts on Sugabayashi welcoming him back to New Japan and said, “If I have the opportunity, or the right time comes, then I will.” Also, he was asked if there was anything he still wished to accomplish in DDT or New Japan and noted, “Not really. I'm already focused on what's next, what's new.” With WWE running the Global Cruiserweight Series in July, you would think now that Ibushi is a free agent he will almost certainly be offered a spot in the tourney.

Welcome to 2016, everyone.

WWE held a press conference on 22/2 in Tokyo at the Hard Rock Cafe to officially announce the signing of Shinsuke Nakamura. It was a big deal in Japan with over a hundred reporters and photographers in attendance. The big news is that Nakamura requested to keep his real name and ring attire, however his entrance music will be changed and he said he had been working with the people who were composing his new music. Nakamura was also interviewed for the Japanese WWE website afterwards. Some of the highlights included a story about how invited him over to his house to watch the Superbowl, but Nakamura ended up at Fergal Devitt's house with other foreigners who don't care for . He spoke about wanting to wrestle when signing with WWE and talked about being room-mates with Danielson and in 2003. Nakamura joked that now that he can't wrestle Bryan, he would like to have dinner with him and joked he would ask him if he would like to be his manager. He also noted he and Hideo Itami had been out for Vietnamese food and said he and Hideo could become friends if Itami can accept a “lazy, irresponsible goof like me!” The plan at the minute seems to be for Nakamura to remain in NXT for at least a few months, but as we've seen with , Finn

3 Balor and even , some guys end up spending way too much time in developmental than is necessary. WWE are paying Nakamura significantly more than anyone else in NXT and, according to Dave Meltzer, he's making “WWE headliner money” to work in NXT. - Thanks to @e_key_oide for the translations.

Sexy Starr, after vacating one half of the AAA Mixed title on a couple of weeks ago, no showed the TV taping in Queretaro on 19/2 and her ex- partner, Pentagon Jr successfully defended the Mixed Tag titles on his own againist & Taya. Post-match, Pentagon announced that he was also vacating the Mixed Tag Team championship because he no longer had a partner. While the show was going on, Sexy was on Twitter talking about how much fun she was having at home and tweeted about putting her kids to bed. Dorian Roldan also went on Twitter and said, “Only the best win and give up their titles which they know it’s correct,” which was clearly a shot at Sexy for not showing up. Dave Meltzer noted in the Observer that Roldan told the rest of the locker room that Sexy had called the office and informed them she was retiring from wrestling all together. Sexy Starr is one of the major characters on , so one would imagine that she will continue to work the TV tapings for season three, that is of course if there is no residual heat from her basically walking out and leaving AAA high and dry. Another note from the 19/2 show is that was not there either and the booking of the show definitely reflected the company's new/old direction. Villano IV won a qualifier over , & , the latter being one of Konnan's guys and Evans was eliminated from the match first. went over in another Rey de Reyes qualifier, beating Zorro, & Clown, who had been pushed as one of the top techincos under Konnan's tenure with the pencil. At the moment, the Rey de Reyes final is Villano IV vs. La Parka vs. Jr vs. the winner of the final qualifier on 4/3.

Tokyo reported on 22/2 that Kaname Tezuka had stepped down as president of New Japan Pro Wrestling and would be replaced by Katsuhiko Harada. According to Chris Charlton, Tezuka was brought into “tighten the New Japan ship” after Road purchased the company in January 2012 and was only supposed to be in the role for an interim period of time. “This is Bushi's phase 2 beginning”, noted Charlton on Twitter. Tezuka oversaw a very successful period of growth for New Japan from 2012-2015, however Bushi Road chairman and NJPW owner, Takaaki Kidani went on record with some absurdly lofty claims about how he wanted New Japan to become a global company like WWE & UFC, which of course was never going to happen. Kidani recently announced that the New Japan World streaming and on demand service is only at 35,000 world- wide subscribers and with houses being down, plus the loss of Nakamura, Styles, Gallows, Anderson and now Ibushi, the image, at least from the outside, is that New Japan is a company on the decline. Whether or not this had anything to do with Tezuka's resignation is unknown, however most of the press conferences and public deals have been handled by Chairman, Naoki Sugabayashi or Kidani himself so it wouldn't make much sense for Tezuka to be the scapegoat when he had very little to do with New Japan's public imagine. In more positive New Japan news, Pro Wrestling Sheet's Ryan Satin reported on 20/2 that has signed a two year contract with the company. With WWE snapping up all the free agents they can, inking Elgin to a two year deal is a smart move, as he has got over well with the Japanese fans and could easily be built up for an IC, or IWGP title shot down the line. Elgin will still be able to work ROH, PWG, and any other US indies he wants in between tours of Japan.

The joint New Japan ROH shows drew a combined 3,085 fans for the two nights at Korakuen Hall last week. The 19/2 show did 1,367 fans for the show headlined by Tomohiro Ishii defeating for the ROH TV title, which was an excellent **** match and the best on either of the shows. 20/2 was a sellout of 1,718 and the main event saw retain the ROH World title

4 over Tomoaki Honma in a good match, but they couldn't touch what Ishii and Strong did the night before. Also on the 20/2 show, & beat Toru Yano & the Briscoes to win the NEVER Trios titles, which makes it the third time the new belts have changed hands in just over six weeks since they were introduced on January 4th. & Doc Gallows worked their final dates in Japan, as they put over the Briscoes on 19/2 and their last ever New Japan match was an eight-man tag with Tama Tonga & against Shibata, Goto & reDRagon.

Lucha Underground will be running their first live event outside of the Temple in Boyle Heights on 15/3 during the famous SXSW (South by Southwest) music, film and art festival in Austin, TX. Producers and wrestlers will be involved in a panel discussion before the show at the Four Seasons Ballroom from 2-3pm and the actual wrestling show will be in the evening at the 4,000 seat Austin Music Hall. Admission is free, however to attend SXSW you can choose different types of passes (music, film, interactive, all inclusive) ranging from $695-$1745 to attend whatever events you choose over the ten day festival from March 11th-20th, so you would think Lucha Underground will receive some kind of financial benefit for running a festival with such high ticket prices.

Photo Credit: @joeyryan

Joey Ryan proposed to his real-life girlfriend, Laura James, during a match the two were having as opponents on 20/2 in San Diego, CA at a Finest City Wrestling show. The spot saw the referee take a bump and Ryan went to pull a gimmick out of his bag, however instead of nailing James with the dreaded foreign object he dropped to one knee and asked her to marry him. James accepted and the two hugged then Ryan, in a spot that James was clearly not expecting, performed a Small Package on her and stole the pin. The YouTube video is already passed 1.1 million views after just five days and the story was picked up by plenty of major news outlets including the BBC, Fox Sports and, of all things, Russia Today.

Pro Wrestling NOAH drew 1,059 fans to Korakuen Hall on 24/2 for their Second Navigation show, which saw Katsuhiko Nakajima become only the second man, after Naomichi Marufuji on 23/12/15, to pin clean. Nakajima called out and challenged him for the GHC title at the next , Great Voyage 2016 in Korakuen on March 19th at

5 Korakuen Hall. TMDK (Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste) will be returning for what appears to be their last tour of NOAH, starting in Tokyo on March 2nd. As of right now, their final advertised date is on 10/3 for a show at Korakuen Hall in the semi-main event against Marufuji & Kitamiya. Also on the 24/2, the newest member of Suzuki-Gun, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, defeated Taiji Ishimori for the GHC Jr Heavyweight title after the usual interference. Marufuji, Shiozaki & Taniguchi beat Sugiura & the Killer Elite Squad and Taniguchi announced that he and Shiozaki would challenge KES for the GHC Tag Team titles on 19/3.

The Arizona State Athletic Commission gave the green light to the wacky ur.tv show for 20/3 this week. Currently advertised for the iPPV is: vs. in a pro wrestling match, Chael Sonnen vs. in a grapping match, vs. in an MMA fight and, most preposterously of all, Roy Jones Jr vs. a fan in a match.

WWE have been playing up undergoing “surgery” after suffering a “shattered nose” during the main event angle of RAW with HHH. Reigns posted a laughable picture of himself “post-surgery” with a nose protector taped on his face and some cotton shoved up his nostril. The photo also had a heavy filter on which made it kind of hazy in a lame attempt to stop people from figuring out this whole thing is a work. During the beat-down angle, HHH smashed Reigns face into the announce table numerous times and Reigns appeared to bleed all over the place. Video footage later showed handing a blood packet off to Reigns, just before HHH started attacking his nose. The infamous Dr Chris Amann was quoted for the angle and said, “Reigns will continue to undergo observation as he recuperates but a timetable for his return to action has not yet been discussed.”

The RAW ratings were up 11% this week. The show with the return of Shane McMahon did a 2.72 rating, with 3,869,000 viewers. 8pm did 4,201,000 viewers. 9pm did 4,055,000. 10pm fell drastically to 3,396,000. SmackDown on 18/2 with first appearance on the show in 12 years did a 1.76 rating, with 2,458,000 viewers, which was up 44,000 viewers from the previous week. Lucha Underground was down from their record 152,000 last week, with 99,000 viewers for the 8pm premier. The 9pm replay did 62,000, which was up 10,000 from last week's 9pm airing and makes a total 161,000 combined viewers. TNA's show on 23/2 was down 18% from last week and drew the smallest audience on PopTV to date, with the 9pm first-run doing 210,000 and the midnight replay doing 87,000, for a combined 297,000 viewers.

The Mixed Bag Volume 3: Best Protect Your Head Ryan Clingman (@RyanClingman)

What is the Mixed Bag? A Twist on the Traditional Wrestling Review.

Welcome, everyone, to the third instalment of our 'Mixed Bag' series! For those unfamiliar, the 'Mixed Bag' is a slightly different take on the traditional title-recap-thoughts-rating review formula that is most often used in wrestling reports from the Observer and Torch to Voices of Wrestling, and, yes, even the Cubed Circle Newsletter itself. Instead, the 'Mixed Bag' comprises very little recap, as a column that aims to provide worthwhile discussion of the matches in question, participants, and topics related to the match at hand and pro-wrestling in general. Some weeks will feature more from specific shows and promotions than others, but generally speaking any bout from 2015/12/01-2016/11/31 is eligible for discussion. This is a segment dedicated to matches that I have personally seen and find worthy of prolonged discussion, and with only so much time, any match suggestions are always welcomed and appreciated. As always, thanks for reading, and we hope that you enjoy this week's discussion.

6 NJPW, February 11th 2016, New Beginning in

NEVER Openweight Championship Match: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii

I have far more to say on the topic of concussions, physical trauma, injuries, and the way that they should affect the of pro-wrestling than what was said a couple of weeks ago in the Daniel Bryan article. A full length feature on this topic is coming, most likely for the Tag Rope Magazine in the next month or so, and of course, at the forefront of this discussion will be the likes of Tomohiro Ishii and Katsuyori Shibata.

The first seventy or so percent of their most recent encounter filled me with a sense of foolish optimism, as whilst most of the strikes were hard and audible, the majority were delivered to the significantly safer neck and shoulder region. However, slowly much of the disturbing violence -- which makes for outstanding matches, but will have depressing consequences in the coming years -- seeped its way back into this match-up. Shibata's running boots were present, but were far less intense. Superplexes were present, but most of the bumps were safe. Then came the sharp backdrops, elbows to the face, and eventually a single thumping headbutt, similar in intensity to the ones we saw at the Dome.

Depressingly, these spots, whilst effective, were far from wholly necessary from a crowd reaction standpoint. Shibata debuted a kip-up for example, which garnered a huge reaction with no adverse health consequences. There were submissions spots of a similar ilk when the crowd was already up high and would react to just about anything. And yet, massive head slaps and a big headbutt, at least sounding concussive, were implemented, simply because that is what is done in matches of this sort.

We knew about concussions and their dangers well before Daniel Bryan, and as I said in the accompanying piece, everyone knows that being hit in the head is unhealthy -- the question of how bad exactly, has been answered with a greater degree of accuracy in recent years. Everyone expected Bryan's case to be a bad one, but seizures and lesions go far beyond what most anyone

7 would have anticipated. These are serious, life altering issues, and the evaluation of matches of this nature cannot be taken lightly, and will not by this newsletter. At the same time, we only have a star rating system with which to address match quality, and have not quite come to terms with just how to properly critique matches of this nature in wake of an ever increasing body of research. We will thus follow with a rating befitting of the match itself, one not reflective of everything that has thus far been addressed. This may change in the future, and it will most certainly be discussed in the Tag Rope Magazine, but for now diatribes of this sort are the only modifications I have thought to make in reviews of matches of this sort. **** ¼

Jay White vs.

We have discussed this match before in many respects. There is only so far that one can take a Young Lions match after all, with the requirement for limited offence in the interest of honing fundamental skills and showcasing humility. At the same time, the opener to New Beginning Osaka was but another showcase of just how good the company's two main foreign young boys are at this stage of their respective careers. The opening matwork was slick, the match layout solid, and the apparent influences on their slowly growing move-sets many. We saw the expected stomps to the head inside of the Crab from Finlay, a clear ode to , but also witnessed in the matches earlier stages some Zack Sabre Jr.-esque finger and arm work from White, Danielson elbows to the shoulder from Finlay, and even a Styles Clash inspired transition from White in the match's finish.

Jay White and David Finlay, much like their Japanese colleagues, Yohei Komatsu and Tanaka, continue to show remarkable rapid and continuous improvement. There is something special about watching rookies develop in any promotion, and NJPW is no exception. I don't know how the NJPW or Stardom dojos have produced such remarkable young talent as of late, but the wrestling business will be better for it regardless. *** ¼

Speed Round

IWGP Junior Tag Team Title Match: Young Bucks vs. reDragon vs. & -- "We are the best tag team of all time, and all of you smart marks know it." -- Nick Jackson, prior to the commencement of the match. This was any and every tag team three-way the company is seemingly capable of doing. ***

IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match, vs. : The main talking points for the main event of the first New Beginnings show from Osaka came from Goto's attire -- essentially 2016's answer to Jinsei Shinzaki -- and the finish, which saw Okada land three rainmakers before making the pin. I thought the final spot to be wholly egregious, with the double and triple rainmaker spots reserved only for Okada's biggest opponents: Nakamura, Tanahashi, and Styles -- for as much as I enjoy Goto, he is not a member of that list. Others on Twitter, such as Voices of Wrestling's flagship account and Ru Gunn had a different interpretation, stating that Okada was simply disrespecting Goto by pinning him in such strong fashion. I stated on Twitter, and will state once more, that I simply cannot understand this logic, as in his 2014 G1 Final with Shinsuke Nakamura and Wrestling Kingdom 10 main event that same spot was centred around respect, and not underestimating an opponent's resolve. Whilst Goto and Okada had a far more heated build to their match here, if Okada was to truly insult Goto, he would have finished him with something other than the Rainmaker, to show that he could put Goto away without even utilising his most powerful move. An alternative explanation is that Okada just really hates Jinsei Shinzaki. *** ½

8 AJPW, January 3rd 2016, Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara is a polarising in-ring performer. Some, like Dave Meltzer, believe that he was only ever a novelty worker in his heyday, one who mostly headbutted and struck his way through matches, with a limited move set, and limited upside. Others, like myself, feel that he was one of the best of his era, and an influence so strong on late 80s and 90s wrestling that he deserves inclusion in the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame, despite the fact that he isn't even on the current ballot.

Even more divisive than Fujiwara in his prime, however, is the now 66 year-old grappler, who is nearly unanimously considered a good wrestler for his age, but not necessarily a good wrestler overall. As a fairly strong Fujiwara proponent overall, I believe that he is capable of having decent to strong mat-based matches on occasion, and when placed in the right scenario, such as his six-man match at the Tenryu retirement show, can still pull-out some great ones.

With all of this said, Fujiwara's pre-Rambo appearance against Aoki was not the endearing performance of a disfigured and unsightly veteran, but instead a rather sad struggle of a man attempting to hold onto something that he once had by abusing his already broken body. The general work in this January 3rd match was passable, albeit fairly bland and a little clumsy, but the spot that earned this match my vehement disapproval was not the slow and uneventful work, or Fujiwara's sickly appearance, but rather the spots that Fujiwara resorted to for reaction. Approximately mid-way through, Fujiwara decided to walk onto the apron, and, of his own volition, undo the protective covering of the steel behind the turnbuckle, ramming his head into it with substantial force. Not only was this a silly spot without context, or the knowledge of head trauma that we have today, but a down-right unacceptable one in 2016. It was egregious and

9 deplorable on every level, and made even worse by the subsequent, albeit lighter, impacts of Aoki's head against the same buckle.

This may have been a technically fine match-up, but the masochistic brain trauma made me sad as the viewer of what may very well finish as one of my worst matches of 2016. -*** ¼

NJPW, February 14th 2016, New Beginning Niigata

IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match (vacant): vs. Kenny Omega

Some have lauded Kenny Omega's victory over Hiroshi Tanahashi as a win on the level of Misawa over Tsuruta in 1990, Von Erich over Flair in World Class, and other such historic performances. I don't believe that their match was quite that. This isn't to say that it wasn't an excellent contest, which is was, even with interference towards the final few minutes, but Kenny Omega simply isn't going to be New Japan's future top star. What Omega is, however, is a valuable component of the roster, replacing Styles in much the same way as Styles replaced Devitt in 2014 -- a testament to New Japan's booking as much as it is to Omega and Styles as performers and success stories.

Remarkably, Omega, who is fluent in Japanese and has lived in the country for years, acted as though he could only speak a few words in the post-match. This is unfortunate, as finding a gaijin fluent in the language, with wrestling ability, and charisma is a an exceptionally difficult task. At the same time, the company desperately required a top star for the heel faction if they were to maintain the unit, a spot which suits Omega perhaps even better than AJ Styles. And for as great as it would be to have Omega cut promos in Japanese, invariably, this would get him over as a babyface. Should Omega stay with Japan, which has for the longest time seemed his intention, then I would predict a babyface run at some point, as he is all but built for the role.

10 Some will criticise Omega for his theatrical delivery, reminiscent of an overly dramatic English anime or video game dub. Similarly, attention has been drawn to some of his more eccentric in-ring tendencies. However, the way in which Omega sold his leg in this match was not only near flawless, but also showcased Omega's ability to work the main event NJPW style as well as most of the top talent. He sold with so many of the subtleties absent in not just NJPW limb-work, but WWE, ROH, and several other companies. He would drop Tanahashi, unable to bare his weight. He would with only only one leg on the ropes -- in this way his selling far exceeded that of Okada a this year's WrestleKingdom.

There were several other key narrative tid-bits scattered throughout. Omega used the Boma Ye knee and Styles Clash for instance, and it was those subtleties, solid base limb work from Tanahashi, and a good atmosphere with high stakes that made this match not only Omega's best NJPW match to date, but a must-see encounter for the week in wrestling. **** ½ [MATCH OF THE BAG]

CZW, February 13th 2016, Sami Callihan vs. 'Speedball' Mike Bailey

As regular readers of the newsletter can probably attest -- I love 'Speedball' Mike Bailey. He isn't the best wrestler in at present, but given a few more years of working the indies with the world's top talent and improving at the rate that he has been, he may very well ascend to that rank within the coming years. He is very much reminiscent of a young El Generico in this way.

Callihan is a man that I have been more mixed on. He is talented, certainly, but does things to actively repulse me in a manner that in no way draws heel heat. The "spit spot" is his signature, and whilst I am not entirely aversed to spitting in wrestling, it should be used exceptionally sparingly (a common criticism I have of Naito). In fact, I can't think of but a single match or angle where spitting added any substantial additional value. This is, of course, with the exception of the , and perhaps Hart/Undertaker from SummerSlam 1997, but the later was a minor moment in a year with far more important happenings, and the former a shoot.

With this being said, we saw three spit spots in the span of 15 minutes, disgusting me to the extent that I was ready to turn the match off at the site of another. It was low-class and unseemly, something that no one should have to resort to, almost ever. In fact, the times that it works are so rare that they are barely even worth mentioning. In spite of these spots, which took the bout down to some extent, Callihan and Bailey had a very good match in front of a CZW crowd, a fanbase with a generally bad reputation. Bailey kicked out of a package tombstone piledriver at one before being pinned with a far lesser manoeuvre in the sliding D. *** ½

EVOLVE 53 01/22: vs. Peter Kaasa ** ½ EVOLVE 53 01/22: vs. Fred Yehi *** ½ EVOLVE 53 01/22: & Tommy End vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Sami Callihan **** ¼ Truth Gate 2016 02/04: 12 Man Three-Way **** ¼ Wrestle-1 01/31: Shota vs. Yuji Hino ** ½ NJPW 02/14: vs. BUSHI *** ½ WWE Fastlane 02/21: vs. *** WWE Fastlane 02/21: AJ Styles vs. *** ¼ WWE Fastlane 02/21: Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Brock Lesnar *** ½

11 WWE FastLane – February 21st 2016 Quicken Loans Arena: , OH. Ben Carass.

We're supposedly right in the middle of the most exciting and fun time of the year to be a wrestling fan. The was six weeks ago and we've got another six weeks of TV leading up to the biggest show of the year, WrestleMania 32. So, are you excited? - Yeah, me neither. We all know the problems WWE have had for years: The product is so stale and reeks of stagnation, the booking is seemingly designed to get nobody over, the company's pigheadedness and reluctance to listen to their fans or to make fundamental changes in the way their product is presented has run-off literally hundreds of thousands of viewers and the ones that remain have been abused so badly over the last few years they have been beaten into a disconsolate acceptance that things will never change and never get any better. Things are bleak, everybody.

That leads me to FastLane, the final PPV during the build to WrestleMania, and once again the WWE is trying to force-feed the fans something they just do not want to swallow. Roman Reigns became the #1 contender after pinning Dean Ambrose in a very good three-way main event, however once again Reigns' big victory was soundly rejected by the fans and the big kick-off to him challenging HHH for the WWE title at WrestleMania went over like a Slayer gig in Vatican City. There is little point in ranting and raving anymore about how Reigns is not the guy, because clearly we all can see that; apparently the only person who can't in Vince McMahon. At this point, it is probably best to just let Vince give Reigns his big WrestleMania coronation and let it die of its own accord. All the booing, negative signs and uproar online isn't going to change Vince's mind about this one. The only way Vince will get the message is if they put the title on Reigns and he bombs as champion.

The pre-show had the familiar collection of chumps exchanging mind-numbing banter; Renee Young was her usual congenial self, debuted his new douchey beard, made 50 year-old jokes and it was clear that has long since gone past the point of caring. The most noteworthy thing about the Kick-Off show was that called the /Del Rio match and, I don't want to shock you, was infinitely better than . Kalisto retained the US title over in a decent 16:10 2-out-of-3 falls match. Del Rio got DQ'd early in the first fall for using a chair, but soon evened it up by hitting his double foot

12 stomp. Kalisto hit a springboard DDT for a nice near-fall then they went outside and Del Rio hit his double stomp off the barricade. Finish saw them both counter each other's finish and Kalisto got the pin with a roll-up. (***) I presumed Del Rio would get the title back here, however I guess they could do some kind of crazy multiple man match for the US title at Mania with Kalisto, which is probably the better option anyway. The only other thing of note was that AJ Styles was in the Lounge and he said he wrestled in the “minor leagues” in the US then went to Japan and is now in the “major leagues” with WWE.

Main Show:

Becky Lynch & vs. & Tamina. - Becky & Sasha over in 9:50. Match was fine, but a bizarre choice for the opener. Heels got the heat on Becky forever; Sasha ran wild off the hot tag. Finish saw Becky put Naomi in the Disarmer and Sasha got the Banks Statement on Tamina to force the tap. - The crowd were into most of the match since it was still early in the show. They saved Sasha on Becky turning on each other for TV and the double submission finish from the faces was a nice way to set up a three-way with Charlotte at Mania. (** ¼)

IC Championship: Kevin Owens (C) vs. Dolph Ziggler. - Owens retained in 15:10. Solid match, but I never need to see these men wrestle each other ever again. Owens managed to get Ziggler to start off slow and controlled the early stages with a bunch of chinlocks. Ziggler made his comeback and got a near-fall with a DDT but Owens cut him off with his Super Fisherman Buster. Ziggler rolled outside and hit the first of at least six Superkicks in the match. After more Superkicks, they went back to the floor and Ziggler sent Owens into the steps head first with a Head Scissors. Finish was good and the crowd got into it, as Ziggler went for a Superkick but Owens moved and Dolph nearly hit the referee. Owens capitalised and hit the Pop-up to mercifully end this feud. - Owens sent out a Tweet later on and called out AJ Styles, saying he would take him out in less time than it took him to toss AJ out of the Royal Rumble, so Owens/Styles appears to be the direction for WrestleMania, which to be fair should be awesome. (***)

Big Show, & vs. w/. - Show, Kane & Ryback over in 10:37. This wasn't the disaster I and many others were expecting, but it was still not good. Wyatts got the heat on Kane; nobody cared at all. Ryback made a comeback with some power moves then it broke down with everyone brawling all over the place. Show clotheslined Strowman over the top as a tease for the Andre Battle Royal then he gave Harper a Military Press over the

13 top onto the other Wyatts. Ryback pinned Luke Harper with a sloppy looking Shellshock, because lord knows we need to protect Ryback, Show & Kane. - All these guys will probably be in the Andre Battle Royal, so this match was pretty meaningless and since Show, Kane & Ryback are three of the most stale guys on the roster, I was bored to tears during this match. (**)

Divas' Championship: Charlotte (C) w/ vs. . - Charlotte retained in 12:30. Not a good match at all and both women looked pretty bad throughout. There were tons of communication issues and laughable attempts at spots they had no business trying. Brie wore Daniel Bryan's kick pads from WrestleMania 30 and threw some “Yes!” kicks. The finish was actually fairly decent, as Brie transitioned from the “Yes” Lock to a single leg Crab and some fans even bought it as the finish. Charlotte fought out and kicked Brie into the ropes then applied the Figure Eight and Brie tapped out in the most pathetic manner ever. - Cole played up the idea afterwards that Brie's leg gave out when Charlotte kicked out from the Crab, but watching live it just looked like Brie collapsed in a heep for no reason. (*¾)

AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho. - Styles over in 16:25. Very good match, although I personally liked their SmackDown match a little more. The crowd were more into this than anything on the show up to this point and started duelling chants. It was back-and-forth early on. Styles went for a Pescado but Jericho countered with a from the floor, which was a really cool spot. Styles went for his Springboard Reverse DDT, but Jericho was too far away so AJ improvised and took Jericho down anyway. Another nice spot saw Styles go for a Springboard, but Jericho did a Springboard of his own and Dropkicked Styles while he was standing on the top rope. Jericho countered a super Frankensteiner and dropped down into the Walls, however AJ nearly took a nasty bump on the back of his neck in the process. Jericho put Styles in the Walls on the floor then hit the Codebreaker in the ring but AJ kicked out. AJ hit the Styles Clash and Jericho kicked out of the most devastating finish in the business. Finish saw AJ hook the Calf Crusher and Jericho did a great job of teasing the tap-out before finally submitting. They shook hands afterwards and Jericho patted Styles on the back, so it seems this feud is over with Styles winning 2-1. - For whatever reason, Jericho & Styles never quite lived up to what you would expect out of a three match series between the two. All the matches were good, however they were unable to kick it into a higher gear and take their matches to the next level. Hopefully a program with Kevin Owens will produce the blow away matches from

14 Styles that we all saw him deliver in New Japan for the last couple of years. (*** ½)

This is where the show went off the rails and turned into a really terrible episode of RAW. We had the New Day on the Cutting Peep Show to shill Edge & Christian's new horrendous show on the Network. It wasn't funny or entertaining in the least and just kept getting more embarrassing and cringe-worthy as the segment kept going. After some painfully bad interaction between New Day & E&C, insulted the League of Nations, who came out simply to be insulted by E&C. New Day just left and were followed quickly by E&C; Edge called the League of Nations the, “International House of Dumbasses” and Christian told everybody to watch their show. - If star ratings applied to segments then this piece of garbage would undoubtedly get minus five stars. It was just the literal worst.

Things got even worse, as the Social Outcasts showed up and R-Truth appeared to face ; on PPV no less.

Curtis Axel w/Social Outcasts vs. R-Truth. - Axel over in 2:30. Goldust came out to try and even the odds but he ended up costing Truth the match by throwing in the ring and Truth got pinned after a roll-up from Axel. - I don't know if they timed the E&C segment out incorrectly or they were just running short on time in general, but this match was a further insult after the horrendous that preceded it. (DUD)

#1 Contendership for the WWE World Title: Brock Lesnar w/ vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Roman Reigns. - Reigns became the #1 Contender at 16:55. Great main event; not at the level of the three-way from the 2015 Royal Rumble, but still very good. Story of the match was Brock killing Ambrose & Reigns with early on and it was clear that one man was incapable of stopping Lesnar, so Ambrose & Reigns would have to work together. They gave Lesnar a double Powerbomb through one of the announce tables then fought it out amongst themselves for a while. Lesnar got back up, so Reigns & Ambrose gave him a second Powerbomb through another announce table and the two buried Brock under a pile of debris, which we never got the monster rising from the depths pay-off from. Ambrose got a near-fall on Reigns with his DDT and Cole yelled, “IT'S GOING TO BE AMBROSE & HHH AT WRESTLEMANIA,” which blatantly gave away that it would not be. Reigns had Ambrose up for a Samoan Drop and Lesnar came back to give him a German and both men went flying; it was awesome. Reigns hit Lesnar with a spear, but

15 Brock hooked the Kimura. Reigns hoisted Brock up and Ambrose nailed Lesnar in the back with a chair then Ambrose went back and forth delivering chair shots to Lesnar & Reigns. Lesnar rolled out of the ring and Reigns, who apparently was fine after all these chair shots, leaped to his feet and pinned Ambrose with a spear. There were a couple of women shrieking for Reigns, but the reaction was overwhelmingly negative. They even turned up Reigns' music to drowned out the boos from the crowd. HHH showed up and did the big WrestleMania face-off with Reigns and it was met with abject apathy from the crowd. - The only real issue I have with the match is Reigns jumping to his feet after taking a bunch of chair shots, the exact same chair shots that took Brock Lesnar out of the match, to hit his move and win. If they wanted to, there is a ready made program between Ambrose & Lesnar for Mania, which they have been building up on TV anyway. So with any luck Bray Wyatt is out and it will be Ambrose vs. Lesnar which is a vast improvement. (*** ¾)

RAW Ramblings – February 22nd 2016 Joe Louis Arena: , MI. Ben Carass

Not 24 hours ago did I criticise FastLane for barely doing anything to get us excited for WrestleMania. Well, they certainly have a direction now. As ridiculous and utterly dumbfounding as it may sound, Shane McMahon will be facing the Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match for control of Monday Night RAW. Just typing such a sentence seems so surreal, but that is in fact the semi- main event of the biggest WrestleMania of all-time.

Rumours of a big surprise kicking off RAW were going around a couple of hours before the show started and word got out about the format board backstage leaving the opening segment blank, so even a lot of people in the company were kept in the dark about the prodigal son's return. Vince McMahon opened the show and presented the Vince McMahon Sr Award to Stephanie and told her she was “born into the business” and had all of Vince Sr's virtues. Steph was about to make her acceptance speech when Shane McMahon's music hit and he appeared to an absolutely enormous reaction. The crowd just lost their minds and Shane was visibly moved to the point of tears by the response he got. Shane shunned a hug and a handshake from Vince then told Vince & Steph that this was the final straw and he had to show up to do something about it. Shane launched into a shoot-style promo and talked about how HHH & Steph had run the company into the ground and he brought up the declining ratings, the falling stock and all the talent injuries. Steph called Shane a “quitter” and told him to get the hell out of her ring. Shane was playing up that he and Vince knew something Stephanie didn't then explained that Vince had messed up big time several years ago and he had to step in to save his dad's ass. Shane explained that he stepped away to conduct some business but noted he “never lost [his] place in line.” Steph demanded to know if this was all true and Vince replied with a great Vince line, “there is some truth to it” and Shane told her it was “best for business” at the time. Steph told Shane she would never forgive him for this and indignantly left the ring.

Vince asked Shane what this was all about and offered to get out his chequebook to send Shane on his way. Shane said it wasn't about money and stated it was about legacy then talked about his three sons he had at home who would be able to carry on the McMahon legacy for a fifth generation. Vince asked Shane what he wanted and Shane replied, “Simple, I want control of Monday Night RAW,” and the fans lost their minds again. Shane appeared to lose his train of thought at one point, although you can't really blame him as this segment was almost 25 minutes long at this point, so Vince went into crazy Vince mode and started yelling at all the fans for cheering such a preposterous idea. Vince even dropped an “F” bomb at one point which the USA Network has to

16 censor. There was also a bizarre line about Shane having some “lock box” that Vince wanted the keys to. Eventually, Vince agreed to Shane's idea however he said Shane would have to wrestle one match on one night and if he won then he would indeed get control of RAW. Vince then booked Shane vs. Undertaker in Hell in a Cell and the fans chanted, “Holy Sh*t.” Presumably, if Undertaker wins Vince gets Shane's keys to the deposit box, although they didn't explain that part of the story. - Okay, first things first. This segment was absolutely outstanding; everybody played their part perfectly and the art imitating life stuff made it really easy to buy into what was going on. They had me right up until the part about Shane fighting Undertaker in Hell in a Cell for control of RAW. I don't even object to Shane coming back to work a match, but having the Undertaker fighting for the survival of the Authority is something I just cannot abide. Why would Taker want to help Steph & HHH, especially when for two years the story was that HHH was trying to end the streak and went so far as to hatch a secret plan with to make sure it happened? It literally makes no sense whatsoever. With that said, they certainly pulled a rabbit out of their hat and without a doubt they did more in this segment to build interest in WrestleMania than any other over the last couple of years; maybe even as far back as Mania 28 when Rock faced Cena for the first time. Whether Shane is back full-time remains to be seen. If he is, you would think he has to beat Undertaker and take control of RAW, but how the hell do you have a 46 year-old non-wrestler pin the Undertaker at WrestleMania without making the whole thing seem completely stupid? So maybe Taker wins and we get 10 more years of the Authority in charge, but then what would be the point in teasing the fans with a babyface GM and not delivering? Perhaps even more interesting than what they will do at Mania is the real life ramifications of Shane returning. He left in 2010 after it was made clear that Stephanie & HHH had overtaken him as successors to Vince's empire,

17 something that Shane had been brought up to believe he would inherit since the day he was born. If he sticks around long-term then were will he fit into the current corporate structure? One thing is certain though; WrestleMania, and the rest of 2016, just got a whole lot more interesting than it was 24 hours ago.

If you are wondering where HHH was during all of this, well he kept himself away from the McMahon drama for the most part. He appeared in a backstage segment with Steph and told her to “let it go” and said the night would end in a better way than it started for them. Boy was he right...or wrong, I can't really tell. There was also another backstage segment with Vince & Steph, where Vince told Steph that he had manipulated Shane and had put together another big main event for WrestleMania. So, the main event was Roman Reigns vs. , which Steph booked to mess with Reigns, who wanted to go visit Ambrose in hospital however he couldn't be bothered to show up and help when Lesnar was killing him. Reigns & Sheamus went to a no-contest when HHH came out like and obliterated Reigns in a fair fight, leaving him lying in a pool of his own blood. While all this was going on, the crowd cheered Trips on like the biggest hero in the world. The more HHH kicked Reigns' ass, the more the people cheered. Huntor finished Reigns off with a Pedigree on the steps and gave him a crotch chop for good measure. Cole was yelling about this being a disgusting and sickening scene, however the crowd completely disagreed and to them HHH was the ultimate babyface here. - I've never really bought into the HHH “political hit” theory that Dylan Hales has been talking about for months, although what they did here would certainly lead one to believe such a thing is in fact more than just wacky internet speculation. Still, to me at least, I firmly believe that in Creative's mind, and especially Vince McMahon's, that they were just shooting the old heel bloodies up the babyface angle to try and get some sympathy on Reigns and set him up for a big redemption deal down the line. They were just blissfully unaware that it was almost destined to fail. Now, could HHH have said something about how maybe he shouldn't just destroy Reigns in a fair fight and come up with something different? Probably. Does HHH know enough about how the business works in 2016 that he shouldn't have acted like a babyface and not have played to the crowd with poses and crotch chops? Definitely. I don't believe that this angle was set up to make Reigns look like a total loser. All you have to do is look at the company's track record over the last few years to see how completely out of touch they truly are. Although, I will say

18 that HHH probably knew that this wouldn't do Reigns any favours and he kept his mouth shut so he could have his big moment and look like the biggest badass in the world. The truth is likely somewhere in the middle, however I still tend to lean towards the idea that company is simply incapable of making new stars, instead of them destroying the guy they have been setting up to be the next face of the promotion over the last two years.

Believe it or not, there was some other great stuff on this show too. Earlier in the afternoon, WWE posted a video on their of Dean Ambrose arriving at the building and Brock Lesnar jumping him in the parking lot. Brock kicked the hell out of Ambrose and slammed him onto the hood of a limo while a bunch of plain clothed referees acted like they were in the ring and were gesticulating at Brock to knock it off. They also showed Ambrose being put on a stretcher and taken to hospital. It was an angle straight out of the 1980's and it was absolutely beautiful. Paul Heyman & Brock Lesnar were out at the top of the second hour and Heyman cut one of his better proms in a while and talked about how Lesnar should be in the main event of WrestleMania because he is Brock Lesnar. Paul said “no shield could protect” Ambrose from Lesnar's wrath and reiterated again that Brock was THE main event, no matter what HHH or Roman Reigns may think. Ambrose, still in his neck-brace, returned and drove the ambulance into the arena then stumbled out and crawled his way down to ringside. Lesnar went to the floor, where Ambrose was selling death, and stepped on Dean as he walked to the back. Ambrose got on the mic and challenged Brock to a street fight at Mania. Lesnar came back down the ramp and gave Ambrose an F5 on the floor then Heyman said that his client accepted his challenge. - This was great. Heyman was on top form and Ambrose vs. Lesnar is so much better than Lesnar vs. Bray Wyatt. Maybe they could have kept Ambrose off TV for a week to sell the attack, but Ambrose doing the Steve Austin comeback was fun, however I don't recall Austin ever getting his ass kicked after driving one of his vehicles into the arena.

Chris Jericho called out AJ Styles and congratulated him on his victory at FastLane then the two became best buds and shook hands. The Social Outcasts showed up and were their usual uber geek selves. Styles & Jericho teamed up to beat & Curtis Axel in a nothing 4 minute match when Styles took out Slater with a Springboard elbow and Jercho tapped Axel with the Walls. - I have no idea if AJ & Jericho will be a regular tag team, but I seriously hope not. Kevin Owens wasn't on the show at all, so we may not be getting Owens/Styles at Mania.

Sundry Segments: New Day beat The Lucha Dragons & Neville in a fun 15:25 match which had to follow the Shane McMahon return. Neville looked really good and hit a couple of big dives. Kofi pinned with the Trouble in Paradise. Usos over the Ascension in a 2 minute throwaway match. Beforehand, came out and cut heel promos on . Bubba was great and reiterated that their legacy will not be defined by tables. Goldust made R- Truth a cake to apologise for costing him his match at FastLane; the cake ended up going in Goldie's face. Why is this story still running?! In an epic rematch from FastLane, The Wyatt

19 Family Classic beat Big Show, Kane & Ryback in 12:30 when Bray pinned Kane with Sister Abigail. Strowman was on the outside and he pulled Big Show over the top at one point. Finish of the match saw Ryback walk out on his partners and later he cut a promo in the back about smashing the “glass ceiling” and grabbing the “brass ring.” So Ryback's new heel character is basically that he is CM Punk; what irony! Sasha Banks downed Naomi in 6:40 with the Banks Statement. ran down to help fight of Tamina then Charlotte appeared wearing 's red “champion” crop top. Charlotte cut an abysmal promo and shouted every single word, because that's all she knows what to do. The point of her promo was that she was going to have fun messing with Becky & Sasha over the next few weeks. The also announced for the Hall of Fame and hyped HHH for SmackDown this week.

Next Week's Issue

In next week's issue the Mid-South reviews return with the follow-up to a stacked show, plus Shane McMahon return fall-out, another Mixed Bag with possible ROH theme, all of the news, and so much more!

That face just reads "political hit"!

Contact

Subscribe Via Email: www.cubedcirclewrestling.com/subscribe-via-email General Questions/Feedback/Suggestions: [email protected] Ben Carass’ Twitter: @BenCarass Ryan Clingman’s Twitter : @RyanClingman

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